Hopping around with, cuddling up to, introducing them to multi-coloured toys, looking after one’s ‘new children’ has become everything for some of us in the city today.
Owner-Director of one of Bombay’s foremost contemporary art galleries, Shireen Gandhy adopted a street dog called Lockey during the lockdown. An apt ‘lockdown doggie name’. Lockey was found at Haji Ali, alongside construction that’s become rampant in the city, shrivelled, underfed and under-nourished. Gandhy and her children decided that this was the best time to get a new dog, and adopted Lockey. Which would then become the nervous little pet’s name. A month later, Gandhy also adopted a pure-bred boxer, who she named Miel. A companion for dear Lockey, and after almost four days of being vary of each other, Lockey and Miel have today become great friends, finding favour with one another.
Lockey (right) and Miel |
Shireen Gandhy in a Facebook post on her timeline speaks about how she can go on and on about Lockey and Miel’s ‘dog-tastic’ stories, where the friendship between the two is a sight for sore eyes. Her son Areesh tells us that the two lockdown-acquired pets have very different personalities. Lockey scares easily, but has outlined his place in the Gandhy-Jungalwala household as the boss of Miel. Miel on the other hand is submissive, having had more positive puppy experiences to draw from and submits to dominating and yet shy Lockey. Lockey likes to be alone and away from people in a corner, Miel seems more playful and is comfortable walking on a leash, shares Areesh Jungalwala.
“When Lockey came in April, he had a fever. My dad had fears about animals being carriers of coronavirus. And the puppy didn’t look healthy. When we got him we looked after him and socialised him, since I like my dog to be approachable by other dogs. He then got more comfortable and so we decided to get him a little friend, Miel. Miel, on the other hand, is extremely playful, happy and jumpy. Lockey has a more reactive temperament. (Having adopted two dogs during lockdown) it’s the most amount of joy anyone can have,” says the Bandra resident.
Nerul resident Harshil Momaya was always a dog lover. Having grown up amidst stray dogs in the city proper, (in more meagre circumstances), Momaya always wanted a dog of his own. When the shutdown was declared this March, Momaya and his family started pondering about getting what they always wanted. A pet. A dog who would be everyone’s bestie. That’s how Momaya got Shadow, a two-year-old silky, black Labrador. Momaya has even begun a page on Instagram for Shadow where he puts up the little guy’s antics in pictures. On the terrace, snoozing, and generally making friends with Instagram before any other dog his age and of his ilk! Adds Momaya, “After my father passed away my mother was lonely. So we thought let’s adopt a dog. I would follow a lot of social media pet related pages because of our growing interest. Before we adopted Shadow, we were asked questions (just like what is done when children are adopted to test the intent of a probable parent), like what we would feed him and other pet care related questions. After getting Shadow the entire vibration in my house changed. I train Shadow myself. All they need is love. No training required!”
Harshil Momaya with Shadow |
After Momaya, a cinematographer, goes back to work full time, he says he will still feel assured about Shadow’s well-being since everyone loves him in the house. His sister-in-law and mother are usually at the house most of the time, so there will always be someone there to look after the big dog with somnolent eyes.
Wadala resident Ela Sharma, the owner of a South Mumbai fashion boutique store, like Momaya, has grown up around dogs, and even married a man who warmed up to her dog during the first meet! She admits that was the clincher. In April Sharma adopted a dog called Barfi. “I don’t believe in buying bred dogs. They are tortured to reproduce. We got Barfi, a German Shepherd through Anubis-Tiger Foundation. My husband always wanted a big dog as opposed to a small one. When I went to see Barfi, she immediately hopped into my car and I knew she was for us!”
Sharma talks about the many challenges making her new pets feel accustomed to one another’s presence. She already had an injured crow she adopted in March and a German Spitz-Pomeranian cross breed dog called Laddu in the house who had come in 2019. It was a task at first and the dogs had to be kept in different rooms! Then on advice, the dogs were set free to befriend one another and it worked!
The stories above tell us about the inborn pallyness of animals when given the opportunity. Sharma’s household in Bhakti Park is the glowing example of unlikely comradeship where a bird makes friends with a Spitz who makes friends with a German Shepherd and they live together gleefully. “I once remember how our crow Tweety pecked on Barfi’s nose so hard when Barfi was behaving badly. All Barfi did was whine and walk away! Tweety even cleans out Barfi’s paws for her when she spreads them out giving her an animal manicure like humans!”
Laddu & Barfi |
Such are the delicious and delightful stories that come from homes where animals are treated on par with humans. “When animals get enough love and respect they behave themselves,” says Sharma explaining the logic behind the unusual connections that have been forged in her house. “We also have three different dinner plates and bowls for three different pets and they all obey! For this time, it’s they who have saved us from anger, frustration, sadness, and anxiety. When we take them for a walk we come back happier and calmer. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in another world. A romanticised world of dogs!”
Shares Deepa Talib Founder of South Mumbai-based NGO The Anubis-Tiger Foundation which rehomes and rescues abandoned and ill-treated dogs, “We have organically started to attract adopters who vibe with our philosophy. Our tribe. The kind which is genuinely interested in providing a wonderful home for a dog. Adoption has gone up by almost 100% this time this year. We have helped rehome almost 65 dogs since March 31. Almost 15 or 20 dogs have found a home in neighbourhoods like Malabar Hill and Peddar Road. I would say empathy levels have gone up. A result perhaps of COVID-19. I get calls from people who tell us how the picture of a dog’s eyes broke them and they want to adopt the dog. I wasn’t getting these calls last year. People have realised what really matters. Not everything is a rat race. The gentle nudging of dog’s nose when you are drinking coffee, a parrot outside the window. People have started to notice these things. Things they didn’t even have the time for earlier. Our organization’s screening process is vicious to say the least. Our question is always ‘post-lockdown what?’ to the adopters. We have rejected almost 500 applicants to get one particular dog adopted. One person got him because that’s where he belonged.”
